Stock Rally Means Tim Geithner Survives

It straddled the line all day, but the tech-heavy NASDAQ is now up on the year after closing up a whopping 3.8%. At 1587, it’s about 10 points above its December 31 close.

The other big winner is Tim Geithner. Last week we had him on deathwatch, but we’re going to upgrade him to stable-but-critical. Even CNBC noted that the market no longer reflexively tanks every time the Treausury Secretary speaks. And now that he’s actually delivered his plan — flawed as it is — there’s no reason for him to quit or for Obama to drop the Ax.

The Dow, meanwhile, added 174, closing at 7,924.32. It could be back above 8,000 by tomorrow.